In the USA, technology giant Apple agreed to reach a multimillion-dollar settlement in a class-action lawsuit filed due to its artificial intelligence features. According to the settlement text submitted to the California federal court on Tuesday, the company did not admit any crime or mistake, but chose to resolve the allegations that it misled users with misleading advertisements without taking it to court.
The lawsuit was filed with the accusation that Apple was marketing technologies that were not actually ready, especially when introducing new generation artificial intelligence features called Siri and “Apple Intelligence”. It was claimed that the company highlighted advanced Siri features supported by artificial intelligence, especially during the promotion process of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, but these systems were not offered to users to the extent promised.
USERS WILL BE PAID 25 TO 95 DOLLARS
Within the scope of the settlement, compensation payments ranging from 25 to 95 dollars will be paid to users who purchased certain iPhone models between June 2024 and March 2025. The payment amount will vary depending on the device model and scope of application.
The plaintiffs argued that Apple promised a “revolutionary artificial intelligence experience” in its advertising campaigns, but users were not able to fully use these features on the devices they purchased.
“FEATURES THAT MAYBE NEVER EXIST”
In the petition updated last week, lawyers used very harsh expressions. The petition claimed that Apple presented artificial intelligence tools that have not yet been developed or completed as if they were ready, and included the following statement:
“Apple marketed artificial intelligence capabilities as a revolutionary innovation that did not exist then, do not exist now, and may never exist.”
The plaintiff also claimed that the company used this aggressive marketing strategy to compete with its rapidly rising competitors in the field of artificial intelligence, such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
SIRI DEBATE IS ON THE AGENDA AGAIN
One of the most discussed issues in the case was the transformation of Siri. It was claimed that Apple announced in the promotions that it would take Siri to the level of a “full-fledged personal artificial intelligence assistant”, but the advanced experience that users expected was never fully presented.
It was stated that some features, especially those announced as “Advanced Siri”, were not released and some functions did not work as advanced as shown in advertisements.
The plaintiffs argued that although the iPhone 16 models were marketed with the promise of “Apple Intelligence”, the devices were released with many features missing.
Despite the settlement, Apple did not admit to any wrongdoing. The company spokesperson said in a statement that the case focuses on only two additional functions out of the many features in the Apple Intelligence ecosystem.
The following statements were used in the statement:
“We have resolved this issue in order to focus on providing the most innovative products and services to our users.”
Pressure mounts on Tim Cook
The case also comes at a time when pressure is mounting on Tim Cook. While criticism has been made for a long time that Apple has not been able to introduce enough “revolutionary innovation” in recent years, comments that the company has fallen behind in the artificial intelligence race have also become more frequent.
Especially after the rapid growth of Microsoft-supported OpenAI, Google and Anthropic, evaluations that Apple was late had a wide impact in the technology world.
According to experts, the case has brought to the agenda not only Apple’s marketing strategy, but also the debate on how realistic the promises made by technology companies regarding artificial intelligence are.
